10/30/2024
It’s harlequin beetle move in day!
Have you seen a Lady Bug decorated like it’s going to a punk show hanging out on your windowsill?
Chances are, it’s infected with a fungal parasite called Hesperomyces.
We’ve noticed this fungus seems to produce ascocarps shortly after the beetles move into our home for the winter, and then again in the late spring.
Help us out with an informal survey.
We’re hoping to gather a little bit of data to help shape a more robust study next fall.
Count some Coccinellidae where they’re gathering near you, and note how many have ascocarps on them.
Look around windowsills and in corners in homes and garages, or outbuildings. There tend to be quite a few where they swarm.
You can count them at any time, but consider counting them sometime before December and again in April. If you want to submit a count of your location each week, even better but that’s getting ahead to next year…
Thanks in advance for your community science contribution!
Submit your counts here:
https://forms.gle/S7vZKG4iCcYSKShd8
